The sympathy of the people during the war of 1866 had been markedly on the side upon which the Government had placed itself, namely, that of Austria. The young King's personality was, moreover, as if created to awaken interest and devotion. He was twenty-one years of age. He united to his youth a beauty which was widely celebrated. Nearly every illustrated paper in Germany, nay, the whole of Europe, published a picture of him at that time, and to these was added a text redundant with admiration and praise. The romantic light which rested on him, the legends current as to his gifts and his intellect, his æsthetic and artistic tastes, even the many half-true half-fictitious stories of his caprices and peculiarities--all contributed to increase the interest taken in him. Added to this was the fact that this official journey was for the purpose of making acquaintance with the wounds caused by the war, and in order, as far as possible, to bring healing and relief to them. It was a winter journey. The snow lay like a white coverlet over the afflicted provinces traversed by the railway. But from behind the wide plate-glass windows Ludwig saw, whenever a group of houses came into sight, that a flag was hoisted on every roof and that from every window a hearty welcome was being waved to him. The noise of the train was put to naught by the jubilant clangour of the village trumpets and clarionets. In the towns the reception was on a grander scale, and not less hearty. All the streets were decorated with flags and banners, and all the bells were pealing. The sounds of cannon, music, and cries of hurrah mingled one with another. The Monarch was the recipient of loyal speeches, verses, state dinners, and parades of troops. Concerts and balls were given in his honour. Young girls with awed admiration presented him with nosegays. The poor and the rich, the young and the old, gave proof-positive of their devotion by the zeal and impatience with which they sought to approach him. The joy of the people broke through police-guards and etiquette. Everyone asked to welcome this conquered man who was making a triumphal progress though the conquered provinces. "Never," a Bavarian officer who was with him told me--"never was a King worshipped as was Ludwig on his tour in his own country." The jubilations were equally deafening, the heartiness just as spontaneous, in Bayreuth, in Bamberg, Hof, Schweinfurt, Kissingen, Aschaffenburg, Würzburg, and Nuremberg. The snowstorms now and then reduced a plan to nothing; Ludwig's health sometimes failed and prevented him from enjoying the festivities as much as he might have done; he was unable now and then to appear at some entertainment which had been given in his honour. But he was never-failing in his amiability, and he visited all the places where there had been battles with the enemy, laying flowers with his own hand on the soldiers' graves, and rewarding those who had helped to nurse the wounded.